Taiwan’s population last year grew at its slowest pace in recorded history, rising only slightly to reach 23.571 million people, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday.
The number of people with household registrations in Taiwan rose by 31,000 from the end of 2016 to the end of last year, a 0.133 percent increase, ministry data showed.
The nation’s population growth, like that of most developed countries, has been on the decline, and the drop has been especially noticeable in recent years. Taiwan now has one of the lowest birth rates in the world.
In 1951, the annual population growth rate was 4.168 percent, but by 1984 it had dropped to 1.483 percent.
The National Development Council said Taiwan’s population is to peak at 23.741 million in 2024, after which it is to stop growing and begin to decline.
Previous studies by the council found that once Taiwan becomes a “super-aged” society by 2026, the population would fall drastically to between 17.07 million and 19.49 million by 2061.
Meanwhile, the ministry’s data showed that nearly 70 percent of Taiwanese reside in the six special municipalities.
New Taipei City remained Taiwan’s most populous city, with 3.98 million registered residents, followed by Taichung with 2.78 million and Kaohsiung with 2.77 million.
While Taoyuan ranked fifth among the six special municipalities by number of registered residents with 2.18 million, it witnessed the steepest population growth last year, with an increase of 1.857 percent.
However, Taipei, with a population of 2.68 million, registered a 0.462 percent decline in population last year.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to